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The Grinnell REPORTER

Saturday, April 21, I967

 

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Student . Opinion

On irresponsible protest

By bond Fuulweii

‘ Politically I have always found my-
lelf allied with the “liberal wing" of
the Democratic Party. At all times I
have attempted to put my beliefs into
ractice. This included such things a!
troducing into the student senate two
years ago a resolution condemning Amer-
can involvement in Vietnam. I have
ulnce found it necessary to repudiate my
‘ariicr position. Consequently, I feel that
{should speak out on why I modified
my position on Vietnam and objected to
aspects of the April 15 Mobilization.

The campaign of Mr. Richard GDtt for
British Parliament last year was
instrumental in changing my beliefs on
Vietnam. Mr. Gott, the candidate of the
Radical Alliance, ran solely on the issue
or Vietnam. Every day on my way to
Hull University I had to pass his head-

uarters decorated with pictures of al-
_eged American atrocities in vietnam.
What struck me most about these pic-
tui‘es was their blurred condition, so had
that it was impossible to tell whether
the people pictured were male or female,
It was then that 1 finally began to real-
Ize that i might be caught up in a “lily
eral dogmatism.” I resolved to approach
the war with an open mind, for a “lib-
oral dogmatism” is no better than any
other type of dogmatism,

Consequently, Itried to attend all the
lectures and discussions on the Subject
I possibly could. One that particularly
stands out was a three hour program
on the BBC. On this Show were Tory and
Labour M.P.’s, an American journalist
ust returned from Vietnam, 3 Reader in

ielnamese Studies at London, and
Staughton Lynd. in their discussion the
United States position certainly came
out better than the antiwar position. I
elleve the primary reason for this was
the expertise of the pro-war people, With
the exception of Professor Lynd, who
had only been in Hanoi, none of the
anti-war people had been} in Southeast
Asia recently and none of them spoke
Vietnamese. The Labour and Tory M.i>.'s
who supported America, however, had
just returned from a junket throughout
all of Southeast Asia (including India
tino Pakistan).

The most impressive testimony was
by the expert on Vietnam who supported
the American policy, because this sud-
denly made me realize perhaps the aca-
demic community was not so solid in
its denunciation of the United States as
1 had been led to believe. The testimony
made me begin to scrutinize the profes-

sional qualifications of those academic:
speaking against the war. 1 discovered
the overwhelming majority were from
such disciplines as biology, chemistry,
and English. Those political scientists
who specialize in international affairs
and communism at such international
research and training centers as Harl-
vard, MIT, Tufts, and Yale, are Con-
spicuous in not speaking out against the
war. So on the “elipert” score I fear
that the anti-war people are often guilty
of the fallacy of argumentus ad Vere-
cundlami Freed of this fallacy, I found
myseli able to rationally examine the
issues and. 1 find myseli largely in
agreement with our present foreign pol-
icy.

AS far as the Mobilization is concerned,
I do not object to the right of dissent.
for I believe this right fundamental to
our system. However, I do believe a
right Carries With it certain responsibili-
ties. Chief among these are the use of
sound logic and the fair treatment of
the issues at hand, rather than clouding
the air through the use or emotive laden
words. i am sure those who speak out
against the war despise being labeled
by the Right as “pinkos” or “com-
syn'ips,” Yet, what do they contribute
to the dialogue? Unfortunately, I fear
the antiwar people are as guilty as the
radical Right in substituting emotion and
cliched phrases for sound argument.

By way oi example, take the state-
ments made by obviously reputable
people in the Mobilization. In particular
I refer to such wild statements as Amer-
ican troops are Nazis, that this is a war
“against colored people,” and that the
war is “betraying the dispossessed."
There was much more in the statement
about the reasons for the Mobilization
which I think any free-thinking individu-
al would find distasteful at best, I would
suggest in the iuture anyone who wants
to align himself with a protest move-
ment find out in advance what the posi-
tion of that protest movement is, be-
cause there is a difference between
reasoned dissent and the uttering oi'
heckneyed phrases.

As far as the “Speakout” at Grilinell
was concerned, I found it on a higher
plane than the national Mobilization.
However, the tenor set for the meeting
was uniortunately the same as that of
the national protest.

Nevertheless, Grinnell's “SpealeDut”
was saved from mere repetition of tired
rhetoric by several of the speakers. In
my opinion, those speakers who dealt
with such issues as whither Vietnam is

A M o N e
r H o 5: AT-
TENDING ilie
D a 5 Maine:
March w . r e
ll-rl L y n n e
Sussman, Al
Hanawelt and
former student-
Mimi Anderson.

Photo by
Trip Kennedy

} Assault

(Continued from Page 1)
said, ‘i'm gonna punch you in the
mouth.’

“I said to him, ‘Try it.’

"He hit me. I made no move to retel-
iate, and immediately said to him, ‘I'm
going to charge you with assault.‘

"One of the men who was also picket-
ing and shouting insults attempted to
restrain me.” This man was later iden-
tified as Russel Julian Lavina, of 2703
Columbia, Des Moines. "I was warned
by Levine that I'd better watch it or
“I’d be in trouble.”

John Hemingway, another Grinnell
student present, said the man later
identified as Levine grabbed him by the
arm as he approached the scene. “He
said something like ‘Don’t get involved;
we'll put you in jail: " Hemingway said
he could not remember his precise
words, though “He constantly wanted
us to know that he could put us in jail.”

Frank climbed the Capitol steps
where a police car waited. He said he
intended to report the young man for
assault.

Frank said that he aroused little in~

in our national interest, if our foreign
policy needs revision, if we have a legal
right to defend Vietnam, and whether
our actions are in the long run interest
or the Vietnamese seized upon the prop-
er areas of dissent. Though I may dis-
agree with them, at least I can under.
stand and respect their reasons. I feel
confident those individuals dealing with
the issues oi our fore gn policy recog-
nize the logical possibility of either side
being right ~— Vietnam is a matter of
probability.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate
my belief that dissent is a cherished
right of our nation. But I do not feel
that irresponsible dissent as seen in the
Mobilization can do anything but aid the
enemy (see Newsweek, April 9, 1967).
Responsible dissent, however, concem<
ing itself with the basic premises or
foreign policy. cannot help but strength-
en us. it would have been my hope the
war protestors, at least at Grinnell,
would have seen fit to try to provoke
rational discussion rather than to at-
tempt to reinforce themselves with the
timeworn phrases or radical dogmatists.
Because i see the importance of a thor-
ough examination of the war by all
people, I have taken it upon myself to
contact the State Department in the
hopes oi arranging a talk. Perhaps if all
come with open minds, we may see an
end to dogmatism at Grinneil, and the
appreciation of “grays” instead of
“blacks" and “whites." With our friends
and relatives dying, it is the least we
can do.

} Des Moines

(Continued from Page 1)

or the bystanders interviewed, were un<
decided, ieeling, in many cases, “we
don't know enough truth about the war
to be able to judge."

At the Walk through Des Moines, the
rally held on the Capitol steps was as
careiully non-extreme as the march it-
self. Competing wim shouts from the
hecklers L‘if “Death to traitorsl” and
“Communist dupes!" the speakers em-
phasized the destructiveness of the
Vietnam war and criticized American
policy in general and the drait
in particular. Although the statements
were sharply critical, there was no
draft-card burning atmosphere. Even
the mass chanting oi “Get out of
Viet Nam” was well-organized and lim<
ited to six repetitions.

Following the rally, most oi the
marchers dispersed rapidly. Argu-
ments between hecklers and peace ad-
vocates did produce a few near-fights,
but only one propeace student, Larry
Frank from Grinnell, was struck.

Back at Grinncll, I student who
marched, over-hearing herself called
“a peace creep," returned to her desk
in the library and found a dead and
bleeding mouse placed there by other
Grinnell students.
E

lerest when he reported the incident to
the two policeman in the car. “The first
policeman did not seem interested at
all. He told me I would have to talk to
the sergeant, sitting on the other seat
of the car," he said, “I told the ser-
geant what was happening, and he con-
tinued to stare through the window."

Frank continued: "I was going to try
to take the policemen to where he (Mich-
Ael Penzner, another Grinnell student)
was—he was following him. The ser-
geant finally got out of the car. I asked
him, ‘Would you follow me to where
this boy is: The sergeant said, ‘Yes.’ I
ran down the hill but none of the police-
men followed me.”

Hemingway and Penzner followed
the boy Frank claimed hit him. Frank
went on to say, “I followed him across
the Capitol lawn onto a Street. He again
threatened me and tried to get me to
fight him. He even tried to start a light
with Penzrler.

"The man who tried to restrain me
before, one of the hecklers, drove up.
He warned me that I would get into
trouble He Said that I would spend the
night in jail and told the boy to get into
his car,

“I took down the license number of
the car, 77-1206, I asked him his name.
He very arrogantly said it was Lavine,
He pulled out his wallet and showed me
a badge. He told me to meet him down
at the police station,"

Hemingway stated he was also
shown the badge. “I-Ie threatened to put
us all in jail for something like disor-
derly conduct. I asked him if he had
the authority to do that.

"He said, ‘I have here,’ and showed
me a gold and silver badge."

None of the witnesses stated this man
ever precisely identified himself as an
officer of the law. Frank said this man
said something to the effect of “See
this badge,” and Frank further said “I
thought it said ‘deputy,’ or ‘sheriff,’ or
something.”

Penzner said the man identified as
Levine asked him “if we wanted to
spend the night in jail.”

Frenk went to the police station. ‘I

See ASSAULT on Page 5

ADDRESS HEREl

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